Leon verbeeck and eduabd de e aet



UNITED raras PATENT rtree.

LEON VERBEEC'K AND EDUARD DE RAET, OF BRUSSELS, BELGIUM.

TUBE-EXPANDER..

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 372,995, dated November 8, 1887.

Application tiled July, 1886. Serial Nc. 207,288. (No model.) Patented in Belgium May 4, 1886, N0.53,S63.

To @ZZ whom, it may concern:

- Be it known that we, LEON VERBEEOK and EDUARD DE RAET, residents of Brussels, in the Kingdom of Belgium, have invented anew and useful Improvement in' Tube-Expanders, (for which we have obtained a patent in Belgium, numbered 58,863, and dated May 4, 1886,) of which the followingis a specification. The object of our invention is to provide a tube-expander which is simple and durable and which can be operated with rapidity, and has reference particularly to a tube-expander to be used in causing the thickness of the tube or pipe to enter a circumferential groove orv mortise in the annular surface of the seat in which the pipe is to be tted; and our invention consist-s in features of novelty hereinafter fully described, and then pointed out in the claims.

In order that our invention may be fully understood, we will proceed to describe the same with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure I is a view of one ofthe thimbles of our tool, showing the manner in which it acts upon a pipe when jointing it to a flange or other seat. lFig. Il is a plan of the tool employed for carrying out the process. Fig. III is an elevation of one of the branches of the latter, carrying its thimble or rotary die.

By preference, the tool consists of three branches having a common. center and forming equal angles with one another. Starting from the center, for a certain portion of their length the branches are of square or rectangular section and terminate in handles M, forming powerful levers when the tool is in position forworking. On the' rectangular portions of the branches thimble-carriers P are mounted in such a manner that they can be adjusted longitudinally thereof. In the present example, two of these latter are adjustable on their corresponding'branch, which has a number of teeth, with which the pawl C engages; but they may all be adjusted equally with the third, which is inserted in a recess or slot made in its branch and traversed by a nut-screw, V, which is a prolongation of the handle M, by whose aid it may be turned without being displaced longitudinally, so as thus to actuate the thimble-carrier according to requirements. In order to displace the pawl thimble-carriers, it will be readily seen that it sufices to raise the pawls and to make the carriers slide on their toothed branch to the V desired place.

It is evident that other mechanical combinations may also be employed for adjusting thethimblecarriers, and that consequently we do not restrict ourselves to the arrangement described. The steel thilnble X has its longitudinal section, as shown in Fig. l, with the projecting rib or collar a and the conical base e. It is mounted on the thimble-carrier P in such a manner as to turn loosely on a pivot of the latter, to which it is held by-a screw with nicked head. If the tool thus made is so placed that the ribs or lcollars a of the thimbles X are pressed against the inside of the pipe, the end which is introduced into its flange or other seat, provided with the groovev or annular mortise mentioned above, and the thimbles X be turned by means of the handles M, the annular thickness of the tube enters the groove of the seating, into which itis forced or set by the ribs or collars n, gradually drawn by the screw V in such a manner that the two parts become, as it were, one, and present a thickness that stands all tests. At the same time the end of the tube is bent back or upset77 upon the seat under the pressure of the conical portion c of the thimble-an operation which still-further increases the tightness of the joint.

Instead of a single mortise, two or more may be made in the flange or other seat of the pipe, to which correspond two or more ribs or collars on the thimble. Perfect tightness may even be obtained by simply threading the interior-of the pipe-seat and rolling the surface of the tube against the threaded seat by means of a plain thimble-that is to say, without any rib or collar-an arrangement Whichalso produces a thoroughly tight joint. In a word, the thi mble may be provided with ribs or collars of any section and number corresponding with the recesses or mortises made in the seating. A tool may also be used with only one branch and one thimble by giving it asuitable .fulerum, or even a tool with two branches;

but experience shows that three, live, or any uneven number o .f branches, according to the diameter of the pipe, are far preferable.

It is evident that the tool may be made of IOO any suitable material and of any size, and that the process may be applied to all forged or drawn tubes of any `malleable metal. Moreover, this process is applicable to all connections or insertions of pipes employed. in manufacture, one of the most important applica.- tions being, for instance, the fitting of tubes in steam-boilers, &e.

Having thus described our invention, the following is what we claim as new" therein and desire to secure by Letters Patent:-

l. In atube-expander, the eoinbinatiomwith a number of radiating branches, each of which is provided with a handle, of adjustable slides or carriers on said branchesprovided with revoluble thiinbles, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

2. In atube-expander, the combinal ion, with a number of radiating branches, one of which is slotted, ot' adjustable slides or thimblecarriers on said branches, and a handle having a screwthreaded prolongation adapted to work through the end ofthe slotted brunch and engage the thimblecarrier on said branch, substantially as and for the purpose set `forth.

3. In combination with the Hanging or upsetting deviees of a tube-expander, aseries of radiating handles for operatin g them, substantially as set forth.

4. In combination with the Hanging or upsetting devices of a tube-expander, an adjusting-handle for one of said Hanging devices, constituting, in con neetion with other handles, the means for operati ng the expander, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

5. Inatube-expander, thecombination,with a number of radiating branches, each of which is provided with a handle, of adj nstable slides or carriers provided with pivot-pins, thimblcs adapted. to revolve on said pins, and screws for retaining said thiinbles on the pivot-pins, substantially as set forth.

LEON VERBEECK. ED. DE RAE'I.

Witnesses:

ADoLF STEIN, AUG. Fonnlssn. 

